Meet the Scots woman who went on 75 blind dates in 22 countries to find Mr Right

12:01, 9 Oct 2015

Updated 09:14, 15 Oct 2015

ByEmily Retter

WRITER Bambi Smyth, who now lives in Australia, made the £20,000 global journey in just 81 days to find love at the end of an eight-year relationship.

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Bambi Smyth who travelled the world to find love

PHILEAS Fogg may be a legend of global travel – but he’s got nothing on Bambi Smyth.

Reeling from the end of an eight-year relationship, she decided to fish in a bigger pond – the whole world.

Bambi travelled to 22 countries in 81 days and went on 75 blind dates in her quest to find Mr Right.

The Scottish -born writer, who lives in Australia, said: “I felt miserable. I had no luck here so I had to try something else.

“I wanted to try a different model. I had a saying, ‘If you’re wallowing in a stagnant pond, go look for a bigger fresher lake’.”

But that bigger lake wasn’t without its shark-infested waters.

And out of her 75 dates, only about 15 men showed interest in her. And a couple of those were married.

Bambi, 56, said: “I spent £20,000 on the trip. I was exhausted. I would take a deep breath before I went to meet a stranger and it was hard to keep a smile on my face at times. But most of the men were lovely.”

What she learned will stay with her for life.

She added: “I didn’t want this to be just about my quest for love, so I made it about my love of food, too.

“I wanted to see if the men reflected their national dishes. But different countries surprised me – it was the Germans and the Danes who were the most sexually confident.

“The Irish had a very dark sense of humour. Some of my dates there were quite sarcastic.

“But what I can say is I learned that men are just as vulnerable as women.”

After a lifetime of failed ­relationships, Bambi thought she had found the real thing with Mark, who was her boyfriend of eight years. It wasn’t to be.

She said: “He wouldn’t marry me. I loved him but I wanted to get married and have kids. I felt I was losing the best years of my life, so I left.

“I needed to get over my heartache so I decided to go overseas and see who I could meet. But I thought, ‘Let’s make it more than a desperate dating journey’. I decided to combine travel, food and men.”

She asked friends if they could set her up with men around the world and her contacts put the wheels in motion.

She decided to begin her journey in Brazil, expecting fun in the sun.

Bambi said: “I was expecting the Brazilians to be very body-conscious and open-minded.

“I think English and Australian men can be quite proper, prudish. I thought Brazilians, well...

“But Mr Brazil was dreadful. He was the sort of man who would sit there and flex his muscles as he was talking to you. He was aggressive.

“I think he was looking for someone to sleep with and when I put up a few barriers, I felt he thought it was waste of time.”

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Stefano was one of Bambis favourite dates in Italy

Her date also demanded that she paid for dinner.

Bambi said: “He ordered the most expensive meal. I didn’t tip because it was already twice over my budget. He obviously felt it wasn’t enough – so he leant over the table and pulled the money out of my purse.”

In Budapest, she agreed to let a toyboy cook her dinner – and quickly wondered if she’d made a fatal error.

She said: “I had been introduced to this person by a friend of a friend. He was much younger. He was 30. He was going to cook me the local meal and invited me back to his.

“I got there and it was in a dodgy part of town, five storeys up. We were in the kitchen and he had a great big knife and was cutting chicken.

“He suddenly turned around and said, ‘If I had another career, I would be a serial killer. I like chopping and I’m very neat’. I feared I’d be floating down the Danube in 100 pieces. But it turned out he was a sweetheart.”

Bambi had another lucky escape in Moscow.

She said: “I had three dates when I was in Russia. One was with a billionaire. He was creative and charming. He paid. But I felt like I was in a James Bond movie. Every time the door opened, he would jump up. He was so high up in Russia he wouldn’t go on the subway – he thought he would be ­assassinated. He had a bodyguard outside the whole time waiting in the snow.”

What Bambi found hardest of all was the judgments many men openly offered on her appearance.

She said: “A lot of the dates I had would look me up and down and look like they were saying, ‘I’m not interested, she’s not attractive enough’ and I would feel dreadful.

“Some even said they were only interested in beautiful women.”

The worst slap in the face came in Monaco.

“A girlfriend of mine was going to set me up on a date with Prince Albert when he was still single,” she said.

“But I had to go through this other man first to see if I was appropriate – a very close friend and minder. He was going to check me out.

“I met him by the fountains at the Hotel De Paris, Monte Carlo. I got this tap on my shoulder and spun around with my best ‘like me’ face on. He had a smile on his face but it evaporated.

“In his eyes, I could just tell he was thinking, ‘You’re not beautiful’. I was immediately dismissed.”

In Scotland, she fell for a 30-year-old who had played the bagpipes on tour with Madonna.

But Bambi walked away because she feared he was too young.

Bambi with Lorne the piper

In Paris, she dated a gentleman who took her for the most romantic night of her life – and she ended up in his bed on his boat on the Seine.

Bambi said: “He was sophisticated, 61, but in great shape. He took me to this amazing Italian restaurant where the waitress sang opera. It was the most romantic place on Earth. He taught me how to French kiss but I said, ‘Let’s go no further’. I kept thinking ‘Should I go there or not?’ but the prude in me came out. I am a six-date girl usually.”

And in Italy, she met the man of her dreams – but it ended in disappointment.

She added: “He was amazing. He was highly intelligent, worldly, a year younger. I thought this man has the energy to light up Rome. We had a 16-hour date – midday to 4am.

“He walked me home and I was ready to explode – and then he kissed me on the cheek.

“He texted me to say sorry. I think he was married.

“In Switzerland, I met a man who was ridiculously handsome but he loved himself. A friend I’ve known for years flew in to join me. We went out and got legless and things got a bit crazy. The three of us ended up in bed. That’s so not me.”

Ironically, 81 dates later, it was back home in Melbourne that Bambi found love again and the relationship lasted five years. Now she’s in another relationship and hopes that her current beau will be the one.

She said her trip means she now has firm ideas about the perfect man.

Bambi added: “It’s got to be British manners, charm from the Italians, the romance from the French and the sexual confidence of the Germans.

“Oh, and I like the look of the Japanese. The older Japanese man is very handsome.”

• MEN on the Menu, £9.99, Blink Publishing, is out now.

Find out 11 reasons to fall in love with a Scottish person with our gallery below.